Tag Archives: star wars episode 8

Today, while stuck in a boring synergy meeting, Stormtrooper Larry wandered over to the ol’ spam site again, to see its penetrating insights on Star Wars Episode VIII.

Here’s what we found.

We may well be years clear of the release of Star Wars Episode VIII, however as The Pressure Awakens taught us, that point can fly earlier in no time.

Little is understood approximately what VIII’s tale will cling, however we do recognize that it’s going to pick out up immediately after The Drive Awakens, with Rey having found out Luke Skywalker’s whereabouts, as showed by way of the teaser trailer.

Clearly this bot has memory issues. Which is it: The Pressure Awakens or The Drive Awakens? Next thing you’ll be saying it’s The Exertion Rouses!

Profound questions

Despite the bot’s dementia, it was insightful enough to ask penetrating questions:

The Drive Awakens left many questions unanswered. Who’s Rey in reality? Is Finn Drive delicate? What is with C-3PO’s pink arm? Why is R2-D2, the bearer of all wisdom who refuses to inform any person anything else, this sort of dick?

So in the intervening years between The Pressure Awakens and Episode VIII, it seems Threepio’s arm has changed from red to pink. That prissy droid changes arms like a handbag.

Forget about whether Finn is Force sensitive… the real question is: is he Drive delicate? And more importantly, why is R2-D2 such a goddawful dick? Those are the hard-hitting questions that fans demand to know, Abrams!

I swear Artoo, you’re such a dick!

A pleasurable solution to Rey

Colin Trevorrow, who will probably be directing Episode IX, has already promised us a “profoundly pleasurable” solution to the thriller surrounding Rey’s oldsters.

“Rey is a personality that may be essential on this universe, now not simply within the context of The Pressure Awakens, however in all of the galaxy,” he stated. “She merits it. We’re going to be sure that that solution is one thing that feels love it used to be one thing that came about a very long time in the past, a long way away, and we are simply telling you what came about.”

While we don’t understand a single word about the solution to Rey’s oldsters, we’re thrilled to know it will be a “profoundly pleasurable” one. In fact, we feel a disturbance in the Pressure, as if a million voices sighed with anticipation, from Reywalkers to Reynobis.

Torn between the darkness and the sunshine

The Drive Awakens ended with a wounded Kylo Ren being taken to Very best Chief Snoke to finish his coaching – however what does that imply?

We think one of the most movie will display Luke coaching Rey, reminiscent of his personal coaching from Yoda in The Empire Moves Again. It is going to even be fascinating to peer how Kylo Ren’s personality develops. He simply murdered his personal father, however he is nonetheless conflicted among the darkish aspect and the sunshine – or used to be Han’s dying the general a part of his transition to Sith?

Well if you ask us, Stormtrooper Larry thinks that Ben’s “simple murder” of his personal father cemented him into the darkish part of the Pressure.

We also think that Very best Chief Snoke isn’t a Sith (they became extinct in Recurrence of the Jedi), but that guy surely ain’t part of the sunshine.

Update: Mr_Ghostface_Lives has just replied to our private message from two weeks ago. This is appended at the end.

A couple of weeks ago, we reported on an IMDB user called Mr_Ghostface_Lives who sensationally claimed that:

Luke is not Rey’s father

Leia gets written out early on, and only survives after using the Force

Today, Mr_Ghostface_Lives posted this on the Episode VII and Episode VIII message boards:

For whatever reasons, I made up the rumours I posted recently. I’m not employed by any entity related to Star Wars, I have no access to any tangible material to back up my theories and everything I’ve posted about the new films was pure guesswork.

Apologies.

Two hours ago, he followed up with an additional post:

I’ve never been fortunate enough to be near a Star Wars movie set, but I’m pretty intuitive when it comes to story and production and this isn’t the first time I’ve ruffled a few feathers by guessing correctly.

It’s not worth the hassle, so I’m going to just quit the prediction game and wait for the movie.

IMDB history

Mr_Ghostface_Lives made a name for himself during the run-up to The Force Awakens. He was able to get a number of locations right, such as “desert planet”, a “Hoth-type environment” and other assertions that sounded credible.

However, he also had some crucial misses, like his assertion that Finn is Lando’s son. His leak history is chronicled here.

When a fellow IMDB user brought up the Lando claims last week, Mr_Ghostface_Lives countered by saying that:

I said Finn was Lando’s son? I certainly don’t recall that, as I never heard that as anything but a rumour. Indeed I was not lying about the sets at Pinewood, and I’m not lying about Leia using the Force and then pretty much disappearing from the story. I could say how she uses it etc but I don’t want to give such specific spoilers. I’d much rather fuel people’s anticipation.

When confronted with his exact posts, however, he weakly claimed he was “drunk on wine” and was just having mischievous fun.

The unraveling

What Mr_Ghostface_Lives didn’t count on, however, was the publicity. When news of his “leak” gained traction on the web, he was forced to backtrack from his previous statement about Rey’s parentage:

I just realised that there may be some misinterpretation of the material I read – remember I read it out of context and in pieces.

The Leia using the Force stuff is 100% on the money, and I’m confident that will make the final cut, but the parentage of Rey… I just realised that it’s possible she may yet be Luke’s daughter, but he isn’t aware of it. There is no family “reunion” in the first half of the script and he doesn’t know her, but I just realised the possibility that he either didn’t know he’d fathered anyone, or didn’t know she’d survived some past incident. So, maybe there is a revelation later that I haven’t seen.

Update: We reached out to Mr_Ghostface_Lives back in June 10 when his post wasn’t viral yet. Today he finally replied:

I appreciate your message but I can’t discuss this any further, I’ve been warned and I realise it was stupid to have posted anything. Regardless of the truth or otherwise of anything I may have said, I must retract everything I’ve posted. I have no access to any material regarding the new films, it was pure guesswork.

Six years before The Force Awakens….

Gary the stormtrooper sat sadly in the cantina.

Formerly TK-1287, the retired trooper was having a bad day. He blew what remained of his life savings on a bad bet — he backed the wrong team in the Kessel Races. Now all he had left was a pack of gum and a couple of credits.

Someone took the bar stool next to him, an old smuggler turned race team captain. It was that scoundrel Han Solo.

Gary glanced sideways at him. “That was a bad race man. You shoulda stayed in the smuggling business.”

“The team’s not up to spec today,” Han replied with a trace of irritation. “Do I know you?”

“Yeah man, TK-1287. We captured you back on Cloud City. I was the one who tied you to that torture rack!”

There was an awkward silence.

“If it helps, I backed your team today with my life savings.”

Han nodded. “Yeah? Thanks for the vote of confidence. Lemme buy you a drink.”

Several rounds later….

“… we still keep the metal bikini in the closet. So whadya do now?”, asked a heavily drunk Han.

“I’m just a drifter seeing the galaxy. Hic! Didn’t get to see it much during my service,” Gary replied. “So where’s your kid?”

“Jedi school taking after his uncle. More mumbo jumbo an’ handwaving. Never really understood any of it.”

Han looked at his watch. “Shit, I just remembered it’s Father’s Day! I gotta pick him up today, tell him the truth bout his granddad.”

He stood up. “I gotta go. Little snot’s been lookin forward to it for a long time.”

Today, Stormtrooper Larry sat down with KY10REY to find out more about the film. Whether his claims are true or not, we leave up to you.

We’ve reserved the juiciest stuff at the end.

Who is KY10REY?

He first appeared in February 2016, when principal photography for Episode VIII started. KY10REY claims to be part of the production crew at Pinewood Studios with insider knowledge of the film’s progress.

Why should we listen to him?

KY10REY seems to have advance knowledge of what Space Bear Industries, the front name for Episode VIII, is up to.

Last March, he posted the scouting sets for the Ireland leg of the shoot, a full two months before it happened:

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Then in early May, he announced that Adam Driver was going to join Mark Hamill and Daisy Ridley in Ireland for the Ahch-To shoot, and even broke down their scenes by location.

Adam did arrive one week later on May 13:

With that out of the way, let’s get to the juicy stuff. Here’s the exclusive intel from KY10REY.

On Jedi History 1.1

A fair number of readers have commented on the poor prose and scriptwriting, with one commenting that “if this is a leak, it sounds like it was transcribed or overheard.”

That’s because it is — it came from a storyboard. KY10REY says “phones, cameras and tablets are not allowed… but pen and paper are”. He was actually writing down what he saw from memory as best as he could.

The tree on Ahch-To is really old, “even older than the Jedi”

“If you look at the tree from a vertical aspect, it’s actually not complete.” That’s because he claims that “most static items are just reference holders for ILM”. Presumably, the tree will be enhanced, or even have its appearance changed outright through VFX.

On the Ireland filming

The shooting schedule included a 4-day safety window in case they ran into inclement weather

Thankfully, the notoriously uncooperative Irish climate turned out to be good, so much so that “we had to use our poor weather truck”

This specialized vehicle was probably designed to create rain effects, during what we presume is the climactic battle between Luke and Rey and the Knights of Ren (which KY10REY can’t confirm or deny)

The waterfall at Malin Head will make a brief appearance, though parts of the scene are actually NOT shot in Ireland but someplace else (we’ll cover this in a future article)

Right after wrapping up in Ireland, part of the crew were sent to Germany and Italy to scout locations for the next movie, the Han Solo anthology film.

What’s happening now

Filming is back in the UK, although whether in Pinewood or other locations KY10REY won’t say

One of the scenes in the past week required a lot of pyrotechnics, which caused complaints among locals

The schedule this week has been so intense that an extra rest day was ordered, “that’s why Mark (Hamill) was mostly silent on Monday and Tuesday, but pretty active today”

There will be a break in filming come July so certain cast members can attend Star Wars Celebration in London

What we can expect

Despite director Rian Johnson’s home stretch post, the film has “several miles left to go”

The official wrap-up party for the production crew is still two months away

Rey had 42 minutes in The Force Awakens, but almost double the screen-time for Episode VIII

And the really juicy nuggets:

Expect the Episode VIII title reveal in the first week of November

The Rogue One main trailer will drop four weeks after the title reveal

There will also be a brief (2-second) teaser for Episode VIII

There were on-set rumors of more trees and seeds being taken to different planets, as well as mentions of Ben Kenobi. However “we are not filming any of that, so if true they must be for something else, like a backstory or tie-in comic.”

Note: In the past hour, several readers have asked why the Rogue One trailer is debuting too close to the movie, rather than during Star Wars Celebration. The key word is main trailer. TFAalso had several trailers, but the most complete one (the international version) dropped on December 9, 2015, a mere one week before the movie itself.

Our guess is, shorter domestic trailers are used to generate hype in North America, where Star Wars is already familiar. However, for other regions where the franchise isn’t a cultural phenomenon (like China), Disney has a longer version. The newer, longer cut also helps sustain the momentum in the US, since it features extra footage not seen by American viewers. Anyway, we’ll just ask KY10REY about it when he’s able to sneak out once more.

Finally, KY10REY says he gets asked a lot about Luke and Rey, but not newcomer Kelly Marie Tran, known on set as “Pocket Rocket”.

Why should we pay more attention to her?

“Because her character will have a pivotal role towards the end. Her role was rewritten to increase screen time.”

We have more intel from our secret rendezvous, but Stormtrooper Larry has to get back to work (damn Powerpoint slides won’t do themselves). We’ll reserve those for another post if our alleged Bothan insider gives the green light.

KY10REY will release the next installment, Jedi History 2.1, before the end of June. So stay tuned!

UPDATE: For readers in the UK, the Metro newspaper will be publishing their own interview in tomorrow’s issue. Scoop a copy and see if they have different intel.

Update (June 20, 2016):Mr_Ghostface_Lives has suddenly backtracked from his assertions and deleted his posts. See the latest news here.

About a week ago, noted IMDB user Mr_Ghostface_Lives came out with the sensational statement that Luke isn’t Rey’s father, and Leia will be using the Force in Star Wars Episode VIII before “being written out”.

A few hours ago, Mr_Ghostface_Lives seemed to backtrack from the former claim:

I just realised that there may be some misinterpretation of the material I read – remember I read it out of context and in pieces. The Leia using the Force stuff is 100% on the money, and I’m confident that will make the final cut, but the parentage of Rey… I just realised that it’s possible she may yet be Luke’s daughter, but he isn’t aware of it. There is no family “reunion” in the first half of the script and he doesn’t know her, but I just realised the possibility that he either didn’t know he’d fathered anyone, or didn’t know she’d survived some past incident. So, maybe there is a revelation later that I haven’t seen.

However, that said, I have to go back to what we know from TFA:

Rey can remember being abandoned on Jakku, so wouldn’t she remember if the father who raised her was Luke Skywalker? She also doesn’t have any memory of Luke, the Force or any Jedi training. So that pretty much makes her having been one of the new Jedi that Luke trained and Ben slaughtered virtually impossible. She has heard of Luke in myth and story only. If there’s a later reveal, I’m pretty certain neither of them are aware of it. I’m guessing that’s what Maz is for…

In short, he claims that:

His information comes from a written source, such as a script

He was only able to read it partially “in bits and pieces”, specifically the first half

He admits there may yet be revelations waiting in the other parts of the film

He also addressed a past claim that casts doubts on his credibility, and doubled down on the assertion that Leia WILL use the Force:

I said Finn was Lando’s son? I certainly don’t recall that, as I never heard that as anything but a rumour. Indeed I was not lying about the sets at Pinewood, and I’m not lying about Leia using the Force and then pretty much disappearing from the story. I could say how she uses it etc but I don’t want to give such specific spoilers. I’d much rather fuel people’s anticipation.

Today, after a month, we finally get our first look at what Ky10Rey claims to be Jedi history 1.1 for Episode VIII:

Analysis:

“Clear Horizon” is allegedly the code name for one of the shooting locations in Ireland. The scene was described as “involving a character observing the landscape from a cliff-top vantage point.”

These set outlines were posted by Ky10Rey on March 3, two months before the Ireland shooting. “Space Bear” is the working title for Episode VIII.

The tree is most likely the mystical, out-of-place looking tree in the Ahch-To set built in Longcross Studios, UK.

The line “I feel pain… death. It has begun” might be the scene where Luke and Rey feel the peril being faced by Finn and Leia according to an earlier leak. Then again, it might also be the First Order attacking the Resistance base on D’qar, or the alleged invasion of the temporary Republic capital.

The final line “Rey if we are to _____ you have until sunset” hints at a pivotal choice by Rey. And since the deadline appears to be “by sunset”, this scene might take place just before the Knights of Ren begin their assault, which was reported to take place at dusk.

If this is true, it confirms the IMDB claim that Rey isn’t Luke’s daughter. We see her parents in this vision, along with a mysterious companion!

Stormtrooper Larry makes no guarantees on the authenticity of Ky10Rey’s Jedi history lesson. As always, take your intel with a grain of salt (and a healthy dose of Corellian ale).

If you’re hungry for more Star Wars, check out the Rogue One leak hilariously rewritten by a spambot!

It turns out there is a Lucasfilm licensed painting of Rey, curiously entitled “Rey Skywalker”:

The painting is the work of Rodel Gonzalez, a Filipino artist licensed by the Lucasfilm group to produce authorized art. His work has been featured in San Diego Comic-Con and other major events.

The painting itself, a 14″ x 11″ canvas entitled “Rey Skywalker” has a list price of USD $2,600. It’s currently on display at the Solaire Resort & Casino in Manila, the Philippines, alongside Gonzalez’s exhibit of other Star Wars and Disney artworks.

“It is an original so there is no COA [Cert of Authenticity]. [These] are given to those submitted and catalogued for reproduction as limited editions. This painting is a stand alone original and a study work of the artist. As for the title, it is named Rey and not Rey Skywalker so it’s a small error we’ll correct.“

So that puts an end to the dreams of the Reywalker theory being outed by licensing. Although it should be noted that many Star Wars plot leaks do come from merchandising, just not this time.

The Hawaii-based Gonzalez has been producing licensed interpretative art for Disney since 2008. When Disney acquired Lucasfilm, he was invited to be part of ACME Archives Ltd, the exclusive publishing arm for Star Wars art. He signed aboard in 2015 and has focused on Star Wars since.

According to Pablo Hidalgo, only a few people in the Lucasfilm Story Group are aware of the full story arc. And more interestingly, in a since-deleted Twitter conversation this week, he relayed how the storyline of the new trilogy is planned “years in advance”, unlike the contradictory twists of the old EU. (We wanna find the tweet, but it’s Saturday and the couch is too comfy).

So it’s highly unlikely that LFL licensees would be privy to Rey’s lineage. In an interview last month, not even the Oscar-nominated editor behind The Force Awakens knew who Rey’s parents are.

Update (June 12, 8 pm EST):

Here’s Pablo Hidalgo’s sly Twitter reaction to the whole thing:

The deepest plot secrets are known only to third party online vendors, Hot Wheels toy makers, and work-for-hire freelance artists.

Leia gets written out early on, and only survives after using the Force.

Today June 10, Mr_Ghostface_Lives gave a further update:

(In response to a comment on Leia’s Force use)Yes I agree, TFA implies that she never looked into the Force at all, which I found disappointing and very unlikely from a story point of view. Given that she and Luke, to the best of our knowledge, were the last Force users at the end of Jedi, how likely is it that she’d never explore it with Luke?

So yes, she uses the Force in Episode VIII, which I think is a phenomenally good move. It’s just too bad that they’re minimising her part again. She’s absent for most of the movie after the opening sequence.

With regard to whether Leia will survive, he replied:

Yes, as far as I know she is in Episode IX. She doesn’t die in the script for Episode VIII as it stands. But it’s still disappointing that they’re minimising her screen time. Despite her personal problems, Carrie Fisher is still a very good actress.

And as for the Rey Skywalker issue:

Well, I don’t know whose child she really is, just that she isn’t Luke’s daughter and it certainly wasn’t Luke or Leia who abandoned her on Jakku.

Update (June 11 1 pm EST):

Question:

1. You know who actually left her on Jakku? Some other reason that excludes the possibility of Luke or Leia being the ones who left her?

2. Also, does what you’re seeing line up with the MSW leaks? Have you got any sense of where the big scene of Kylo and the Knights of Ren arriving on Ahch-To takes place (i.e. first/second/third act)? Don’t worry if you can’t answer, but I thought I’d try my luck.

I don’t actually know who left her because I haven’t read anything that reveals it, but I have read enough to know who it isn’t, if that makes sense. And it’s neither Luke nor Leia.

Regarding all the leaks, there was a great deal revealed there, and some of it I can neither confirm nor deny, but yes, there is certainly truth to some of it.

Let’s analyze:

Leia is absent after the opening sequence

The last we saw of General Leia Organa in TFA, she was in the Resistance Base on D’Qar.

If Mr_Ghostface_Lives is a credible source, then there will probably be some sort of reprisal attack on D’Qar. This isn’t a stretch, given that the First Order now knows the location of the Resistance base, and they’ll be hungry for blood after the destruction of Starkiller Base.

We might even see a modern adaptation of the Hoth battle, where the First Order arrives just as the Resistance is packing up and preparing to switch bases.

Remember, a few months ago there was a rumor that Laura Dern’s character would replace Leia as leader of the Resistance after being severely injured. The scene supposedly occurs “just after an evacuation”, implying a battle with the First Order that the Resistance will lose.

Leia’s grave situation might also serve as segue to the galaxy’s political situation. Episode VIII director Rian Johnson helped shape the TFA prequel novel Star Wars: Bloodline, including the state of the new Republic and the two ideological factions vying for control. With Leia out of the way, the audience will see the effects of her absence, as well as the tiny cracks in the Republic’s facade.

In fact, as early as now Disney is already prepping us for the larger view of the galaxy outside of the Resistance:

Whereas Episode 7 was a clear conflict between good and evil, Episode 8 could delve into the gray area, and how the good guys aren’t as united as they seem to be.

Incidentally supporting Mr_Ghostface_Lives assertion is the fact that Carrie Fisher seems to have a lot of downtime. While Mark Hamill has been putting in 6 am call times at Pinewood Studios, Carrie found the time to launch a new advice column on The Guardian yesterday. Her column is appropriately called Advice from the Dark Side.

Rey isn’t a Skywalker

Disney producer Kathleen Kennedy already stated the new trilogy will be about the Skywalkers. So if Rey isn’t part of the family, there’s still Ben (though redemption seems far-fetched at this point).

If Rey isn’t a Skywalker, where did she come from? Because of her incredible Force potential, fans are theorizing she came from an equally powerful lineage.

Another theory is that she is a “child of the Force”, like Anakin.

Then again, she could just be a random scavenger who was somehow on the same planet as the Millennium Falcon, Lor San Tekka, and the map to Luke Skywalker. If so, then the Force really works in mysterious ways.

Stormtrooper Larry has his own theory, but we’re too lazy to get up from the couch and share it just yet. All we can say is we agree that Rey is probably NOT a Skywalker.

As for the credibility of Mr_Ghostface_Lives, it’s up for debate. Some credit him to be a reliable source on TFA, while others scoff at him for his off-mark assertions like Finn being Lando’s son.

Who knows, he might be the real thing, and his missed predictions might be from an early script. After all, Making Star Wars claimed that TFA’s opening scene would be Luke’s hand floating in space. Half a year later, they were vindicated after Mark Hamill confirmed that an early version of the script did open with his severed hand.

Last year, the biggest star of The Force Awakens was also the one without any lines — Luke Skywalker. The whole film turned out to be one big hunt for the MIA Jedi master.

So what’s the latest on Mark Hamill, the face of the Star Wars saga? We gathered this week’s news so you don’t have to!

Busy bee

In an interview yesterday with Entertainment Weekly, Mark revealed how busy he was with Star Wars Episode VIII.

“It’s been 6 a.m. calls every morning, and I have another one tomorrow.” In fact, he’s so caught up in the latest installment that he takes a bath way ahead. “I’m taking to showering the night before, so I just roll out of bed 15 minutes before, and then go straight to the studio.”

An unwashed Luke? Stormtrooper Larry can’t help but think of this:

Thankfully, filming for Episode VIII is finally wrapping up, and he can soon let go of his Force beard:

In the same interview, he revealed he might not make it to this year’s Comic-Con, where he’s supposed to debut his new digital series Pop Culture Quest. “It doesn’t look like I’m gonna be able to make it this year, because of the shooting schedule here”, referring to Pinewood Studios in the UK. “I don’t get back until the third week in July.”

Mark has been living on London for the past year. He was required to return to Skellig Michael for the first footage of Episode VIII in November, even before The Force Awakens screened in theaters. By January, principal photography for the sequel was in full swing, and Mark’s been busy ever since.

While the film wraps up this month, he still won’t be able to attend the Comic-Con in July due to Star Wars Celebration. This year’s Celebration will be held in London on July 15, just one week before Comic-Con, hence the reason for not being able to commit to San Diego.

Twitter banter

After working with Episode VIII director Rian Johnson for the past year, it seems he and Mark have a chummy relationship.

After Rian posted his temporary London address on Twitter, Mark replied:

This made remembering where you lived so much easier-Didn't even need 2 drop breadcrumbs to find my way home either. https://t.co/V5n4EC9IFs